A Distant Dream
by Slag
Summary: Summer after HBP Fred, George, and their friends are staying at Number 12, along with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. What will the summer contain? Laughter, drama, and many affairs. GWSB, HGFW, RWGW, AJASKB, and more.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** None of this belongs to me. If it did, would I be posting crappy fanfics on a website?

**Summary:** It is the summer after The Golden Trio's sixth year. Harry is off in Egypt searching for an elusive Horcrux, leaving Ron, Hermione, and Ginny alone at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. There they are joined by aspiring members of the Order. Chaos ensues, laced with romance and the budding of a war.

**Rating:** M for language, violence, and anticipated sex. There shouldn't be too much of that in the first few chapters, though.

**Warning:** Spoilers for HBP.

Chapter One: The Burrow

Spells flew everywhere, ricocheting off of anything and everything. Furniture was strewn all over the once-tidy room. All but one of the lights were broken, making the already-dim room barely visible. Dodging flashes of green and red light, Ron Weasley continued running after his target. Sweat dripped down his face; his leg muscles ached; but he didn't stop. "STUPEFY!" he yelled, aiming his wand, but missing. "STUPEFY!" he screamed again, but to no avail. A third time, he howled "STUPEFY!" This time he hit his mark. His opponent fell to the floor, lifeless. Ron wiped the sweat off his brow before moving to his next victim.

Locked in a small room across the hall, Fred and George Weasley huddled together. They listened in on the other room through the keyhole. Fred leaned back against the wall and sighed. "Ahhh, spring cleaning."

George nodded. "I can't say I ever remember it being this chaotic. Mum was always one for strict order."

In fact, the proper term would have been summer cleaning. Having lived at Number 12 Grimmauld Place for over a year, Mrs. Weasley was concerned that The Burrow would fall into a state of disrepair (well, more so than it already was). When Ginny and Ron arrived on the Hogwarts train, they were whisked away to their former home. Fred and George met Ginny, Ron, Molly, and Arthur Weasley at The Burrow to find that a number of garden gnomes had apparently moved into the living room. They were currently engaged in evicting this colony.

"Bloody gnome!" Ginny exclaimed as one bit her arm.

"Watch your language, young lady," her mother snapped, fighting two adult gnomes who appeared to be protecting their child.

"Why should I? I'm almost of age, you know. Petrificus Totalus!" Two gnomes froze in attack position and dropped to the ground at Ginny's feet.

"You know very well that you've nearly a year to go before your birthday. You'd better obey your mother if you want to live to see that birthday." Ginny rolled her eyes at this. Her mother had been threatening her life for as long as she could remember.

The Weasleys looked about the room, finally satisfied. Every trace of gnome was removed and thrown over the hedge. Fred and George had even come out of their refuge and 'helped' in the form of shrinking gnomes and storing them to experiment on. The Burrow was as clean as it had ever been, and it was time to bid it farewell.

The family bid the house their last goodbyes. Ginny ran up to her room to retrieve some old clothes that she thought she could sew into something more stylish. Ron went to collect a few Chutley Cannons posters that he'd accidentally left last time he was in the house. Fred and George raced up to the attic in hopes of finding a sandy type of dust that they needed for their products. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were left alone in the kitchen.

"So, how do you think Ron will get along without Harry this summer?" Mr. Weasley asked his wife.

"Oh, I think he'll be marvelous. After all, Hermione is coming, and without Harry there…Hermione is a fine young witch, Arthur."

Arthur Weasley chuckled. "You're trying to set Ron up with Hermione, are you?" Molly blushed. "It's okay. She is a fine young woman. I just don't know if she's the type that Ron's looking for…"

"Nonsense, Arthur. Of course she is. Ron just doesn't realize what's best for him yet."

Before Mr. Weasley could argue that, Fred and George entered the room, slightly out of breath from running down four flights of stairs and looking extremely innocent.

"So. How about that weather, Dad?" George conversed.

"Yeah, Mom. It's really hot. Isn't that right, George? Dad?"

"What have you two been doing up there?" Mrs. Weasley asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" protested George. "We were barely even up there."

"And certainly not up _there_," added Fred.

"And by no means did we enter the attic."

"And we most definitely did not collect dust specimens."

"No!"

"Never!"

"Not us!"

Seemingly satisfied by their show, the twins went to drape their arms around Ginny, who was carrying a huge bundle of old clothes. Ron followed shortly, three rolled-up orange posters in his hands.

"All ready?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "Okay, then." She tossed Floo powder in the fireplace, stepped in, and said "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" She vanished.

The other Weasleys followed suit. Soon the room was silent, but for the squeak of an unnoticed garden gnome.


	2. Chapter 2

**_This happens to be one of those nasty, unrealistic stories where Sirius has mysteriously reappeared from the dead. Sirius was one of my favourite characters and I couldn't just ignore him, but at the same time I had to get rid of Harry with the Horcruxes. I know that most of this doesn't mesh with HBP, and I don't really care. If you don't like it, then you can stop reading now._**

**Disclaimer: **Nothing belongs to me. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling…lucky bitch.

**Rating:** M, in anticipation.

**A/N:** Spilt Glass – thanks for your amazing review.

I would do one of those annoying "GIVE ME THIS MANY REVIEWS OR I WON'T UPDATE" ploys, but they're annoying. It would be nice if I got some more reviews, though.

This chapter makes reference to where all of the bedrooms are. I attempted to draw it out, but I'm horrible at Paint. Here's my idea of the layout of the house: http / img . photobucket . com / albums / v443 / kagebrie / number12 . jpg (remove the spaces, of course)

Chapter 2 – Back At Number 12 (a/n: yeah. I know. I'm awful at titles.)

Ginny Weasley stepped out of the fire, brushing the ashes off of her clothes. She'd chosen to wear Muggle clothes – dark-washed jeans, leather flip-flops, and a plain brown shirt – and now she wished she hadn't. The stylish jeans felt constricting, the shirt's lack of sleeves provided for many painful gnome bites, and the flip-flops had a tendency to slip off.

"Hello, Ginny," said Tonks, who was seated at the kitchen table, along with Sirius, Lupin, and the rest of the Weasleys. "Would you like a sandwich? We were just having lunch."

"Rather late for lunch, isn't it?" Ginny asked, washing the dirt off of her arms. "It's almost four o'clock. Nice hair, by the way." Tonks's hair happened to be a neon purple colour, which matched beautifully with her deep purple robes.

"Thanks. Y'know, purple is the colour of royalty, and I was feeling kinda royal today." Tonks twitched her nose, adding some deep purple streaks into her hair. "As for the lunch, well, we weren't expecting Molly home to cook for us. And we all know how well Sirius cooks." Sirius rolled his eyes. "So we decided that we could make do with one meal instead of the two."

Molly looked uncertain. "That's probably not healthy, Nymphadora…with You-Know-Who's supporters protecting the Horcruxes as fiercely as we're trying to locate them, you'll need your nourishment."

"It's Tonks, Molly. And we ought to be going, in any case; we're due to meet Mad-Eye and Kingsley in fifteen minutes. We've a mission tonight." Tonks stood, scrunching her face up. She changed her hair to a less-noticeable grey-streaked brown and added wrinkles on her face. "I've got to change these robes, too." Bidding everyone farewell, Lupin stood and Apparated. With a loud crack, Tonks followed him.

Sirius shook his head. "It's always a damned mission. Always a mission. Why can't I ever do anything to help, damnit! I'm a bloody feared murderer. You'd think that I could intimidate the fuckers, but no. It's always, 'Stay at home, Sirius. You can't help us, Sirius. This is your place, Sirius.'" He slammed his fist down on the table. There was a moment of shocked silence.

Molly finally spoke up. "The children…I've never heard such vulgarity in my life…"

Sirius suddenly opened his eyes, as if realising something. "God, Molly, I'm sorry…I don't know what came over me…I…er…well, I ought to show you to your rooms. Come on." He motioned towards the door.

Molly Weasley grabbed onto her husband's arm, steering him towards the other door. "I think we'll be able to manage, Mr. Black," she snapped.

Sirius was left standing bewildered in the kitchen, surrounded by the four youngest Weasley children.

"It's alright, Sirius," Ginny said. "Mum does that all the time. Earlier today, I said 'bloody', and she about had a fit. I'm sixteen! She'll get over it."

"Erm. Right. So…your rooms. This way. Your luggage has already arrived and it's in your rooms." Sirius led them out to the stairs. Ginny noticed that they were her favourite kind of stairs. They were of the sort that wrapped around in order to take up less room.

Sirius stopped briefly on the second floor landing. "Your parents are in that bedroom over there. The other one is extra…sometimes members of the Order use it. Lupin stays in it, Tonks stays in it…" Sirius suddenly looked uncomfortable.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Sirius, we're all grown up, you know."

"Okay. Would you rather me say, 'Lupin and Tonks reside in there, fucking each other's brains out every night'?" Sirius asked. Ginny laughed and shook her head, letting her straight and shiny red hair flip from side to side. Sirius had never noticed her hair before; she'd always kept it up in a messy ponytail. She'd certainly done some growing up in her fifth year at Hogwarts – mentally, and, he couldn't help but notice, physically. He wondered briefly just how much she'd grown up, but a picture of Molly Weasley immediately popped into his head. His questionable thoughts of Ginny disappeared, and he continued leading the Weasleys up the stairs.

"So, this is the third floor. The boys' floor, if you will. Ron, your room is over there." Sirius pointed to a door across the landing. "I got bored over the spring and painted it orange. Actually, I redid most of the house. I know you like the Cannons. Fred and George, that's your room. It's across the landing from Ron's, so hopefully you won't get into too many brotherly fights. That room," he pointed at the room in between the two, "is currently unoccupied."

Fred, George, and Ron quickly disappeared into their rooms. Ron wanted to unpack all of his Cannons memorabilia, while the twins were planning on unshrinking their gnomes and conjuring up some cages for them.

Sirius and Ginny continued up the stairs. "Well, Ginny, your room is up here, on the fourth floor. There're floors higher up, but this is the top residential floor. Most of the ones up there are servants' quarters and stuff. That's my room, and your room is across from mine. You've got an adjoining bathroom to yourself and Hermione, who will be your roommate, provided that no one moves into that empty room between ours. That's Buckbeak's room, but he's pretty quiet, as long as I take him for his nightly fly. He shouldn't bother you."

Ginny nodded, opening the door to her room. She gasped in delight when she realised that it was painted bright blue. "That's my favourite colour! Brilliant, Sirius!" She hugged him. Sirius was surprised. He didn't make any effort to hug Ginny back; he stood stiffly, engrossed in his own thoughts. Did she have some sort of interest in him? Did teenage girls often hug adult men if they didn't really like them? He felt a familiar stiffness in his pants and sighed inwardly. This was exactly what he'd felt for his many lovers.

All alone in Number 12 during the school year, he'd often sought out female company. Muggle schoolgirls, married witches, magically enhanced…it didn't matter. Maybe he'd talk to them for a while, then he'd fuck them, more for the release and the togetherness than for the pleasure. They'd stay the night and then leave, sometimes giving him their number, inviting them to call him. He never did, of course. There had been dozens of them, those one-night stands, hoping for something that Sirius couldn't give them. He'd come to the conclusion long ago that he had no emotion left. He cared for Harry, yes, but that was more out of a sense of old comradeship for his father than anything else. Sirius had promised James to care for Harry, and care for Harry he would. But Sirius had never truly loved, and he believed that it was his destiny never to do so. So he used the women, screwing them and then ditching them. He sincerely hoped that Ginny would have the sense to stay away from him. Ginny deserved more than that.

"Er…Sirius?" Ginny asked, interrupting Sirius's train of thought. "You okay?" She'd stepped away from him – a wise move, Sirius thought – and he momentarily wondered just how obvious his erection was.

"Yeah, Gin. I'm fine. Just spacing out." The two shared a moment of awkward silence. "Well…I'll be in my room."

"Yeah. Thanks for showing me around." Ginny turned and walked into her room. Sirius watched her hips swing and her hair swish before she closed the door behind her. He sighed, running his hands through his messy black hair, and retreated into his own room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **It's all J.K.'s. The title of the chapter, "Strangers in my bed", is taken from the song "Nothing Left But Me" by The Cruxshadows.

**A/N: **I'm wondering if this story should be classed as AU, but I don't exactly know what that means. Help with the definition would be excellent. I'm not a very prompt updater, am I? School started…many distractions…I'll do what I can. I must admit, I've been having some difficulties thinking of ideas for this fanfic.

Chapter 3: Strangers In My Bed

Ginny shut the door. She was glad to get away from Sirius. She'd felt a new kind of tension between them that had never been there before, and she didn't like it. She wanted to be around him and get to know him, but at the same time she desperately wanted to get away from him. She felt herself falling for him, and she knew that she was purposefully trying to avoid it.

She looked at the clock. It was 4:30. Excellent; she didn't have much time to kill until dinner. She began rummaging around in her room, unpacking her trunk and putting everything away. She made sure to keep all of her stuff on one side of the room, in this case, the side farthest from the door; she knew that Hermione was anal about keeping her side to herself.

Meanwhile, on the floor below, Fred and George were busily creating a makeshift zoo for their gnomes when Ron barged into their room. They hastily jumped in front of their cages, but not before Ron got a glimpse of them.

"What the hell is that?" Ron blurted, his eyes wide.

"Just a little…experiment…" said Fred, twisting his hands behind his back nervously.

"We trust you won't tell anyone," George chipped in. The twins took hold of Ron, forcing him towards the door.

"Like hell I won't!" Ron protested, struggling to get out of the twins' grasp. His struggles abruptly halted when Fred slipped him a few Galleons, and he peaceably exited the room.

"Dinner!" called Molly Weasley. In a matter of moments, everyone in Number 12 Grimmauld Place was seated around the kitchen table, ready to dig into roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, stewed carrots, and homemade rolls. Sirius had seated himself next to Ginny, much to her mutual joy and annoyance – joy, because someone truly liked her, and annoyance because she didn't know what she wanted from him yet. Fred and George had strategically placed themselves across from Ron, staring pointedly at him, daring him to tell their mother about the gnomes. Assorted other members of the Order were heaping food onto their plates.

"No one had any trouble moving in, did they?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "I had a wonderful day; it's so nice to be back here again. I took a lovely long walk out in the garden…" And Mrs. Weasley was off on one of her infamous conversation-starting rambles.

"She never shuts up, does she?" Sirius murmured to Ginny. Ginny felt her cheeks heat, but tried to play it cool.

"No, she never seems to realise that no one is listening to her."

"Mmm. I can tell." Sirius spooned some mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Pie!" shrilled Mrs. Weasley, interrupting their conversation. "Warm apple pie! The famous Molly Weasley recipe!" Ginny rolled her eyes. According to her mother, every recipe that she made was famous. Ginny accepted a piece of delicious apple pie and devoured it.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Weasley and Tonks began clearing the table. Fred, George, Ron, and Lupin went outside to play two-on-two Quidditch in the meadow. Ginny started up the stairs to her room, but Sirius pulled her back. They looked at each other for a moment, Sirius apparently forgetting what he'd been meaning to say. Just as Ginny was about to pull away and huff up the stairs, annoyed, Sirius cleared his throat.

"Er…d'you want to go walk in the garden?"

Ginny raised her eyebrows at this unusual request, but nodded. They continued silently out into the garden.

"So…erm…this is the garden?" Ginny stated stupidly, to break the awkward silence.

"Uh. Yeah. Hey, look – our apple tree is finally growing apples!" Sirius led Ginny over to a huge tree, which was indeed full of ripe apples. Ginny got a slight feeling that this was all planned out, but she didn't really care. She sank into the grass under the tree. Sirius jumped up and grabbed an apple from a branch before following suit.

"Here," Sirius said, tossing the apple to Ginny. "Have a bite."

Ginny awkwardly bit into the apple, acutely aware that Sirius was intently watching her eat. (A/N: Like the adverbs?) After taking a few bites, she handed it back to him, running her tongue across her teeth to assure that no apple bits were caught in them. He bit into it eagerly, devouring the apple in huge mouthfuls. Ginny watched him eat, noticing his full lips. Maybe he would be a good kisser, she thought. Quickly shaking the thought out of her head, Ginny initiated conversation.

"So…how do you like living here all year?" she asked. As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she chastised herself for blurting out such a stupid question.

"It gets kind of lonely, especially since it lacks such excellent company as I am enjoying right now." Impressive choice of words, no? Ginny thought so, laughing and thanking Sirius for the compliment. Sirius shrugged. "I'm just telling the truth."

Ginny flushed. She sensed the growing attraction between them and instinctively began thinking of ways to repel it. She'd never been a fan of serious relationships, preferring halfhearted flings where her suitor was infatuated with her and she had no feelings for him. Hermione called it a control complex. She always had to be in control, always had to have the guy chasing her, willing to do anything for her, when she couldn't care less.

"Y'know…this would be a good climbing tree," Ginny commented. "Would you mind helping me up?"

Sirius looked at her strangely, but consented to lift her up and into the tree. Ginny was glad that she'd worn jeans and not a skirt; she was even more grateful that these jeans happened to be stretch jeans and supercomfortable. Sirius waited until Ginny had climbed a few branches up before jumping, catching the lowest branch, and pulling himself up after her. Ginny had to admit that she was impressed by his strength. After climbing a good way up, she found a nice nook and wedged herself between the branch and the tree trunk. Sirius, slightly out of breath, lay on his stomach across the same branch.

"You're good at climbing trees," Ginny observed, shifting her position so she could comfortably face Sirius.

He shrugged. "I guess it's a product of my family life. I always came out here and climbed when my family became too much for me to bear. I'd sit in the tree and think and they'd search for me but never could find me." He half-grinned, recollecting his mother running around the garden, screaming for him, never bothering to look up. "Of course, it got me in horrible trouble. A good many beatings I got for hiding. They'd ask me where I was, but I never told them. It was my one refuge…I couldn't let them know. I couldn't let them take it away. I guess now I could Apparate up the tree, but I'd rather climb."

Ginny sat still for a moment, digesting this information. Then she spoke. "I kind of had the same problem, but I didn't have any trees to climb. My parents never laid a hand on me…never…not on any of my brothers, either. They were just so overbearing. Still are. It's hard to tolerate sometimes. There's always someone around saying 'Ginny, do this' or 'Ginny, be more like that' or 'GINEVRA, STOP THAT!' I'll go up to my room and there's someone on the same floor, always. My dad or my mom or Fred or George or Ron... And the house is so small that I can't get away, I'll go into my room and shut the door and I can still hear them and they can still hear me. There's nowhere to go for refuge."

Sirius nodded. "I know how you feel." He paused, running his hands through his hair, still – amazingly – keeping his balance on the skinny limb. Ginny sensed that he had something more to say. Finally he spoke. "Ginny, I really like you. And I think you like me too." She nodded. He sighed in response. "I don't…I don't know…" Suddenly he sat up, showing no intentions of finishing his sentence. He wrapped one arm around Ginny, using all of his balancing skills to keep himself from crashing to the ground. Ginny closed her eyes, anticipating what was coming, and Sirius didn't disappoint. He leaned in, gently kissing her, wrapping her in his arms.

It reminded Ginny of her first kiss all over again, except that this kiss had all of the passion that hers had lacked. Her kissing virginity had been taken by Michael Corners in the hall one day at Hogwarts. It had been sloppy and he had almost missed her mouth completely – totally unromantic. Ginny had kissed many times since, but none quite compared to Sirius's. She relaxed, letting herself go. It felt as if she were falling, blissfully falling…

Everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **It's all J.K.'s.

**Author's Note/To My Reviewers: **

Note that I changed the rating from M to T. I don't anticipate anything that would justify such a rating happening soon. I tend to automatically want to rate my stories M because I usually only read M-rated stories, but this one doesn't need the rating.

This story doesn't have any official plan. I'm not sure where it's going. It may end up quite lengthy; it may end soon. I'm open to your suggestions, if you have any.

I ACTUALLY UPDATED! After a long hiatus from fanfiction, I am back…hopefully for good. I know this is kind of a filler chapter…sorry. Expect a couple updates this weekend to make up for it.

Chapter 4

Ginny hesitantly opened her eyes. A bolt of pain shot through her body and she made a low moaning noise. Her head ached, her legs were numb, and it felt as if her left arm had been snapped in two. She blinked several times, staring up at a bright blue sky. Pressing her good hand against the hard surface upon which she rested, she deduced that she was lying in the grass. The sun glared into her eyes. She licked her dry lips and detected a faint taste of blood.

"Ginny! Thank goodness you've woken!" a familiar voice exclaimed – it was Hermione. "I've only just gotten here. Sirius said he was walking in the garden when he heard you falling. It's a miracle that you're alive! You've Sirius to thank, he saved your life."

"What happened?" Ginny asked. She tried to raise her head to look at her friend but found it immensely heavy.

"Oh, thank goodness, she's alive! You fell out of the apple tree. Put your head down and stay still; Fred and George are going to move you to your room." This time the speaker was Molly Weasley.

Magicking Ginny to a fraction of her original weight, the twins hoisted their sister over their heads and carried her up the three flights of stairs to her room.

"Open your mouth," commanded Mrs. Weasley. Ginny obliged and felt her mother tilt a spoonful of warm, syrupy liquid down her throat. Ginny caught snippets of conversation – "thank goodness you were there", "owe you her life", "let her sleep" – before drifting off into deep slumber.

The room was deserted as Ginny slept; Hermione was staying the night in the vacant guest bedroom. As dusk turned into night, a silent figure entered Ginny's room. Sirius passed much of the night watching Ginny sleep.

The next morning, thanks to many miraculous healing potions, Ginny was able to sit upright while leaning back against some pillows. The pain in her head had subsided somewhat. The feeling in her toes was starting to return. She'd learned that her left arm had, in fact, been snapped in two. The Weasleys were unable to afford the best healing potion for this ailment; thus Ginny was only able to take a cheap, slow one. In the meantime, they bandaged the area where the bone had pierced through her skin, put her arm in a Muggle sling, and gave her pain medication.

Soon after Ginny woke up, her mother came into her room to check on her. Seeing that her daughter was awake, she summoned Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione. Half an hour passed before Bill and Charlie Apparated into her room; it was a Saturday and they were off work. The less fortunate Mr. Weasley was slaving away at the Ministry. It turned into a sort of big family party. Bill and Charlie announced that they were planning to stay the night, and Mrs. Weasley hurried off to prepare the guest room for them. Hermione moved her trunks into the room that she was to share with Ginny. Fred and George announced that they planned on inviting a few of their friends to stay with them, much to Mrs. Weasley's annoyance. Conspicuously absent was Sirius.

After the required amount of family time, the Weasleys began making excuses to leave. Fred, George, Bill, and Charlie went outside to play Quidditch. Ron, irked that he was excluded, exited the room grumbling about cursing his four brothers. Mrs. Weasley went downstairs to begin preparing lunch, leaving Hermione and Ginny to catch up in their room.

"So what exactly happened yesterday? You were just sitting in a tree for no reason and then you accidentally fell out?" Hermione accused as soon as Mrs. Weasley had started down the stairs.

"Uh…yeah, I guess…" said Ginny, blushing slightly. "What did they tell you?"

"Sirius was walking in the garden when he heard you fall. He came to your rescue, performing a couple of spells to save you."

"But Sirius was in the tree with me!" protested Ginny, realising too late that this incriminated her. Hermione, however, didn't seem to notice this.

"No, he couldn't have been. He was walking in the garden, he told us himself. How else could he have been on the ground to save you?"

"He_ is_ a wizard, you know," Ginny sarcastically informed Hermione. "He _can_ Apparate."

"But you can't Apparate in and out of number twelve…" Hermione weakly protested.

"…unless you know it exists," Ginny finished. "Sirius was in the tree with me! I remember." She was vaguely aware that she sounded like a three-year-old, but she didn't really care.

"Ah," said Hermione, grinning. "And, pray tell, what exactly was Sirius doing in the tree with you?"

"Nothing," said Ginny, in a tone that obviously signified that she was doing something.

"Uh-huh." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll get it out of you soon enough, don't you worry. Ohmygosh, I forgot to tell you! Viktor and I are going out again! I went to Bulgaria to visit him before I came here. It was amazing."

"You did?" asked Ginny interestedly. "And what exactly did _you _do?"

The two girls went on gossiping for close to an hour. They only stopped when Mrs. Weasley called Hermione down for lunch.

"Sorry, Ginny, your mother said that you're still too weak to come downstairs for lunch. I'll bring you back some food," Hermione promised.

"'Kay!" Ginny cheerfully replied. The window was open and sun was streaming in, which automatically put her in a better mood. She still hadn't managed to extract details from Hermione about exactly what had happened when she and Viktor went to a luxury hotel in the Bulgarian mountains, and thus she had something to ponder and giggle to herself over.

However, she hadn't spent but fifteen minutes pondering and giggling (and occasionally reliving her kiss with Sirius) when the door opened. She didn't notice at first; when she did realise that there was a person standing in her room, she blushed furiously. She secretly loved laughing with herself, but was sure that it looked insane to onlookers.

"Ginny," Sirius stated, seating himself in a chair, conspicuously far away from Ginny's bed, looking uncomfortable.

"Sirius," Ginny replied, smiling slightly. The discomfort and awkwardness between them was almost tangible; things such as this made Ginny laugh at the foolishness of people. "Thanks for miraculously saving me. It was so fortunate that you happened to be walking in the garden at the precise moment that I fell from the tree." Her tone was dripping with sarcasm, and Sirius blushed slightly.

"Listen, Ginny, about last night." Ginny raised her eyebrows at this cliché line. "Uh. I probably shouldn't have done that." She merely looked at him. He stared back at her. Locked in a staring war of sorts, their eye contact continued for a few moments until they heard a knock on the door.

"Hermione," Ginny muttered in explanation. "With my lunch."

"I should go," said Sirius, rising from his chair. With that, he exited the room as Hermione entered.

"Sirius was in here?" queried Hermione, raising one eyebrow suggestively. Ginny, suddenly finding herself starving, gulped down her soup and nodded in response.

"Yeah, it was bloody awkward. Y'know, 'I shouldn't have done that, I ought to be going now, nice talking to you.'"

Hermione shrugged, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable. "I guess you couldn't expect anything but that. Do you really actually like him?"

Ginny blushed, slightly inclining her head. "I guess, but it's kind of repulsive. I mean, he's like twice my age. He's not repulsive to me. Obviously. But isn't it gross to you?"

"Love is love," said Hermione simply. Ginny sighed, expecting another lecture reminiscent of her friend's infamous "HOUSELVES ARE PEOPLE TOO!" talks, but instead was surprised with another rather simple answer. "If I were you, I would go for it."

Hermione left Ginny's room soon after, leaving the bewildered redhead to ponder her friend's words…


End file.
